How would you respond to these 'misconceptions'?

[Yami_Ichi]

Good day. As some of you know, I still attend church due to respect for my parents. Well, in this quarter my sunday school class is studying apologetics; the defense of faith. This week, we covered some 'misconceptions' that people say when they are witnessed to by the Christians. Here, I am going to post the misconceptions, and how I was told to respond.

1.] "Christianity must be proven scientifically; I'll accept Christianity when you prove it to me with the scientific method."

They described the scientific method as such; controlled environment, experiment, and that the experiment is repeatible.

I was told to respond with this:
Christianity is based on historical events, therefore it cannot be proven by the scientific method. However, it can be proven by the legal historical method, which includes written, oral, and pshysical records. Events in history cannot be repeated, therefore they cannot be proven true by the scientific method.

2.] "I cannot accept Christianity, because there isn't enough evidence for me to be 100% sure that it is true."

I was told to respond with this:
Nothing can be proven 100%. You make decisions everyday that you are not even sure are 100% true. For example, getting in your car everyday, you cannot be 100% sure that you will arrive safely. History cannot be proven 100% either. You trust in what you believe is true; much like you believe it is true that you will not get into a car accident. You cannot prove anything with 100% certainity.

"There is enough evidence to convince anyone who is not set against it, but not enough to bring anyong into the kingdom who will not come." [Blaise Pascal, a late Christian scientist.]

3.] The truth is relative. If you believe something, that is truth for you."

That is the same as saying that there are no absolutes. And, by saying there are no absolutes, that is an absolute in itself. Believeing something does not make it true, for truth is not based on belief. Truth is either true or false, not what you believe. Hitler believed that he was right- was he?

4.] "It doesn't matter what you believe as lonf as you are sincere in your faith. It really doesn't matter who or what you put your faith in. The important thing is that you believe- period."

This is the same as saying all faith leads to the same god, for all religions have similarities in them. But, you are not saved by faith. People are dependant upon their beliefs. Just because you believe you are going to heaven, does not mean that you will, for going to heaven is not based on how strong your faith is.


So, I leave this to you members of GAU. What would you do to combat this?

 

[Dathu]

Oh boy. As an ex-christian, I have a LOT to say about this, but I'm not for the typing now. I'll post later, just wanted say I've read it.  

[ProjectOmicron88]

1.] "Christianity must be proven scientifically; I'll accept Christianity when you prove it to me with the scientific method."

The scientific method says that theories need to be tested repeatedly, and that history cannot be. Doesn't that lend more credibility to the atheist side? What the Christians are saying is that you can't disprove it, so it must be true.

2.] "I cannot accept Christianity, because there isn't enough evidence for me to be 100% sure that it is true."

You were told to respond with "nothing is ever 100% certain". This is the church shooting itself in the foot again. If they're not 100% certain God exists, why do they believe in him?! I call that "gullibility".

3.] The truth is relative. If you believe something, that is truth for you."

Truth is very different from opinion. If I don't believe gravity exists, that does not become truth for me. Believe me, I've tried to fly before. rolleyes

4.] "It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere in your faith. It really doesn't matter who or what you put your faith in. The important thing is that you believe- period."

But "believing in something" doesn't mean "believing in a higher power". They're confusing faith with beliefs. It's possible to hold a belief in an idea that doesn't happen to be a religion, such as communism, evolution, or time travel.

-=+=-

I hate when the church assumes things about a group they know next to nothing about. For them, the notion of not believing in God is a wholly foreign and almost impossible concept for them to grasp. The solution is to expose children raised by Christians to these things at an early age. Remember that old adage, "what's learnt in the cradle lasts till the grave"? This is why Sunday school exists. I try not to refer to religion as an Orwellian subculture, because I don't believe it is. But raising children without any exposure to other religions is really a form of brainwashing.  

[Theophrastus]

Dathu

Oh boy. As an ex-christian, I have a LOT to say about this[...].

You and me both. I still get angry at mild provocation. Can't imagine how I'd react if a hardliner started challenging me. biggrin

Yami_Ichi

Yami_Ichi
1.] "Christianity must be proven scientifically; I'll accept Christianity when you prove it to me with the scientific method."


Noah's Ark solution: if we accept the Noah's Ark tale as fact, then we must accept that the air was too saturated with water to be breathable before the flood, that Noah could fit all the dinosaurs on the 350 foot ark, that we are all the result of an 8-person incest orgy and that the entire geological record (something that has been found, tested and proven - unlike Noah's ark) must be thrown out the window.

See also these three videos breaking down claim by claim the miserably unbelievable folk tale of Noah's Ark and its predecessors. Note videos are a little long, but humorous - poor sloth!
Video 1 , Video 2 and Video 3 .


Yami_Ichi
2.] "I cannot accept Christianity, because there isn't enough evidence for me to be 100% sure that it is true."


Great. That's a good first step! See Russel's Teapot.


Yami_Ichi
3.] The truth is relative. If you believe something, that is truth for you."


"A casual stroll through a lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything." --Nietzsche in Twilight of the Idols.

Christians will try to split hairs, truth versus belief versus faith. Guess what - if you're going to get all Descartian on me, then I'll take the Red Pill. No, we may not be able to prove or disprove anything, but I'll side with evidence, thank you. At least I'm /doing/ something with my mental faculties as opposed to Bluepillin' it up.


Yami_Ichi
4.] "It doesn't matter what you believe as lonf as you are sincere in your faith. It really doesn't matter who or what you put your faith in. The important thing is that you believe- period."


To say that a person is "saved by faith" already assumes that the Bible is entirely true. If one is saved by faith, then why did God offer blessings to those who crush the skulls of infants? That strikes me more as an act of violence, then an inner faith.

From Psalm 137:9
"8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us-

9 he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks."

Infanticide isn't exactly something I'd care to be attached to. Hope this helps.

 

[Dark_lord_15]

crying I know how you feel. I still have to go to chruch every sunday, and they tell us atheists are bad people, and they should be talked to. Yeah, I'm begining to hate christians...

 

[caustic 0_0]

Things like that never seem to work quite right unless you ignore lots of other ways of looking at it. :0

Things they say-
-Christianity is based on historical events and history cannot be 100% proven.
-Nothing is 100% certain.
-You trust in what you believe is true despite not being 100% proven.
-Just because you believe it, doesn't make it true because the truth is not relative.

So apparently, belief is relative correct? And since according to the statements, truth is not relative and Christianity can't be 100% proven with evidence due to being based on historical events, then Christianity is not truth but a belief. And they also say belief is not true, it is relative. So their arguments don't leave room for there to be one true god, right? :0 It'd have to be a relative belief which agrees more with what they tried to prove wrong in number 4.
Or at least that's how I read it. o.o  

[Meirelle]

*headdesk*

That... is amazing.

Do you live down south?

I am really glad I have parents who respect my choice in faith, I'm glad I live in the north east, and I'm also glad my parents are on the liberal side of the Roman Catholic Church. Because the other side... well, they can be just as scary as the Fundies.  

[Arios V]

You know to be honest, I'm not sure how I would combat those. That's another reason why I joined was so I could better defend myself when someone decides to try and discredit my beliefs